Takeaways, Highlights, And GIFs From Last Night’s Episode Of ‘Justified’: ‘Ghosts’

There are many things I love about Justified, but I think two particular examples from last night’s season finale really highlight what makes the show so great: First of all, the opening scene with Raylan, Winona, and Nicky Augustine’s elf and elfgoons. That could have easily been dragged out as the focus of the whole episode (Raylan trying to figure out how to save Winona and Baby Rayleen — which, again, is officially the baby’s name as far as I’m concerned — while he was a hostage himself, tons of “don’t hurt the baby” drama, etc.). Instead, within the first 10 minutes or so, Mama and Papa put about a dozen bullets into the bad guys and we were off to deal with other important business. This show moves fast. Try to keep up.

The second example was the whole bit with Delroy’s body. In an episode that started with a fetus being held hostage, and included heavy themes like heartbreak and the lengths to which both “good guys” (Raylan) and “bad guys” (Boyd) will go to protect the people most important to them, we also got an extended, darkly hilarious grave-digging/corpse-swapping farce. And, somehow, it totally worked.

But the real story last night — for me, at least — was that we finally got our big Raylan/Boyd moment, and it was a doozy. Showrunner Graham Yost has said in a number of interviews that one of their goals this season was not to lean on that crutch too much, which was probably a good thing, but last night, with the Drew Thompson situation resolved and Ellen May alive in a safe house, the time was right to put the two men in a truck and let them talk. What was interesting about that scene, besides the terrific dialogue, was that it was the exact moment where the two men were sliding past each other on the Can They Have It All? Scale. After a season of turmoil and a tense moment where he almost lost his unborn daughter and ex-wife, Raylan was about to settle family business once and for all with the help a strange bedfellow. Boyd, on the other hand, was in the middle of watching his happy suburban future with Ava melt away like Dairy Queen soft-serve in the sun. That’s what made their exchange so powerful. What do they tell themselves that allows them to not feel like bad guys, especially given the frequently fuzzy means they employ to achieve their frequently fuzzy ends?

Goddamn, I love this show.

And now, the highlights:

Raylan successfully delayed his suspension for the better part of half a season. Strong work on his part.

Say what you will about Winona, and I know many of you have said plenty, but it takes a mighty special woman to shoot a mob goon in the groin while carrying around a tiny human in her belly. Verdict: Down-ass chick. (NOTE: Important GIFs on the next page.)

For all Boyd’s eloquence, he is not always great at hiding his purpose. (“Ava, why don’t you go behind the bar and pretend you’re cleaning up?”)

Speaking of Ava, yuuuuuuuuuuuuup. The writing was on the wall for something bad to happen to her, and sho nuff, there it was. Even though they’re both unrepentant murderous whoremongers at this point, that scene between her and Boyd at the end was heart-vaporizing. Boyd’s face after they kissed? And the shot of him looking at the pretty backyard they may never get to share? Hoo boy.

So Boyd will go on an absolute rampage next season, yes? This is what we’re getting at? Because, if so, YESYESYESYESYESYES.

The season ended perfectly, with Raylan closing up the hole in the wall that started the Drew Thompson fiasco, drinking a beer, and making silent peace with the fact that his no-good father was in the ground, and there’s a open spot nearby waiting for him if (or when) his own reckless lifestyle catches up with him, all set to the tune of “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.” That’s some heavy sh-t.

Two notes in closing:

– Many, many thanks go out to Chet Manley, who provided us with 10-15 excellent GIFs from every episode. I have no idea how GIFs get made (my working theory is that they are the result of sorcery), but I do know that every morning when I woke up and got ready to pound these recaps out, I already had an email full of badass animated images waiting for me in my inbox. Everyone go follow him on Tumblr.

– Congratulations to Otto Man, who will be the recipient of Justified Season 3 DVDs for his consistently top-notch commenting in these discussions. Lots of you earned the Raylan badge, so it was a tough choice, but Otto brought the heat week-in week-out.

Thanks again, everybody. This season was a blast. Please do not shoot me while I’m sitting in my limousine.

I love this show, but just can’t jump on the bandwagon for the finale. Unless they plan to resurrect Nicky somehow, using Sammy to get rid of him was just lame. I was also thinking of how many people they kill on this show each year, and trying to figure out how they can make Delroy’s death (a second-rate pimp) so important.

I am used to this show blowing my mind with amazing situations and incredible dialogue. This finale resolved nothing and left me with nothing in particular to anticipate for next year.

I’m not sure we watched the same finale. I was blown away, and even more so on second viewing (all episodes of Justified demand a second viewing, but especially this finale). The nuances of dialogue and facial expression – top-notch writing and acting – are what make this the best show on television and this finale did nothing but reinforce that for me. Nothing to anticipate for next year? Wynn Duffy as the mob’s guy east of the Mississippi? Boyd as his heroin distributor for Kentucky? Boyd working every angle to get Ava out of jail? The birth of baby Givens (hopefully, anyway!)? Tim dealing with shooting Colt (because you know there will be repercussions of that)? I could go on. All those things and more make me ask: Is it January yet?

Is there a show on TV that has better dialogue than Justified? Deadwood is the only other one that immediately comes to mind. I’ve never seen a show that has NO wasted characters or a show that doesn’t have a character that the majority of the audience hates. It’s just unbelievable how good everything is on this show; the acting, the action, the story, the writing, etc…

Also thanks to Danger and this site for heaping all the praise they do on the show, I love visiting the site after each episode. (also a big thanks to Chet Manley for the gifs, especially the Jackie Nevada one…)

Great show, and great season. Only one comment – the “hole in the wall” note above – doesn’t connect. The first episode this season, that house on the cul de sac where Waldo Truth plummeted out of the sky – that’s where the sack was hidden, not in Arlo’s house out in the country. Or did I miss something? That’s the place that was vacant, and being watched by Constable Bob’s motion detectors, not the house where Arlo and Helen live(d).

The vacant house that those kids broke in to and were stealing wire. That’s the house the sack was hidden in. That’s the house that Constable Bob had the motion detectors in, right? That’s the house that was at the cul-de-sac, in the beginning of the first episode this season. That is NOT the house that Arlo and Helen lived in during the season. That’s where I’m missing something.

No, the sack was hidden in the wall at Arlo’s. The economic boom (relatively) that amount of drugs provided Harlan county was precisely why Arlo hid the evidence all these years. In his house. The motion detectors Bob set up were at Arlo’s and the old abandoned High School seen in Decoy, Raylan himself had hired Constable Bob to watch over the place while Arlo was in prison, which is why the motion detectors were set up. They were set up at the HS because of a recent rashes of copper/wire theft in the area. Which, coincidentally, is something the Benny starts to do while he and Roz were looking for the bag Arlo had hired them to retrieve from his wall. But they high-tailed it outta there when they heard the sirens, before finding the bag. Which Raylan then acquired once he got the call from Bob and arrived on-scene. The one and only time that cul-de-sac was seen was in that very first, opening scene of the season. And the only connection is had to anything is that it’s where Waldo Truth landed.

You have missed the point of this entire season. The bag that belonged to the real Drew Thompson (the one with the Waldo Truth id) was in Arlo’s house. The body that dropped in front of the house in the cul-de-sac was Waldo Truth and not Drew Thompson.

So you’re all saying that the house at the end of the cul de sac in the very first scene of the first episode this season, and the one the kids broke into, is the same house that has the Givens Family graves out front, the same house that Helen died in, and the same house that Raylen is now living outside of in a trailer?

OK, I just went back and re-watched parts of Ep1 – I got confused because there was no obvious link between the house in the first scene , and Arlos house where the kids broke in about 8 or so minutes in. I thought the place they were breaking into was the house in the first scene. After watching more closely, the place they broke into was indeed the ‘country’ house. Was there some spot in the season where the connection between “Sherman”, the character in the first scene, and Arlo is explained, so we can see how Arlo came into the coke?

Perhaps as a way of explaining my rather obvious confusion, between episodes 3 and 4 of this season, I watched all of Season 1, 2 and 3 on the DVDs to get caught up. I’m a recent convert to Justified. My somewhat addled brain lost track of the timings of some of these things..we’re clear now.

I was actually saying “Dammit Raylan let it wait until morning so Boyd and Eva can be happy.” Guess I was wrong about them ending up being happy. who knows maybe with the extra hands it would have finished before the law came out. And I also think Paxton has a bullseye on his back next season.

This is the best show EVER, and the seasons are WAY to short! So, Winona will be preg. for a 3rd year (season) straight? Poor girl! lol I really think, in my own twisted little head, that we could possibly find out next season that, my love (lol), Raylan and Boyd are half brothers! Think about it, one (kinda) good, one (kinda) evil! Plus, Boyd and Arlo were very close! Who knows????? :) :)

I once saw this show being described as “dialogue porn.” And that original person could not have been more right. I was basically on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the episode. One of the things that has always intrigued me is Raylan’s moral ambiguity when you get him going and this episode really painted a picture. I too, hope Boyd loses his shit next season.

I love the shit of this show. And the wait between seasons is up there with football with me now. At least Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire will help ease the pain.

Last night was another amazing episode. I wasn’t quite sure how they were going to pull it off, but really wrapped up this season’s arcs, while setting up the next season. Other shows take note.

As an aside, never bad mouth kurt sutter on twitter. I replied to one of sutter’s tweets asking if he realized Justified was better than Sons. He replied with a chucky reference (I accept that) and I’ve been @’d by SOA fans on twitter non-stop since that.

I love everything about this show.Raylan is so tough but has a heart.Boyd is a great character because you have to like him.My great grand daughter is 2 yrs old and her name is Raylin.By the way,I was born in Harlan Co,Ky

If I have a baby boy, whenever I have a baby, I’m naming him Raylan. The past few shows of this season have been one gasping, hand clapping, shouting commercial break after another. And I love it. I swear I hoot and holler at least 5 times per show. From this episode I LOVED the slowly dawning realization that Raylan hooked up with Sammy to have his needs met… lines being blurred!! They always imply it, but this was really sending the message and I cannot wait to see what $*#@ hits the fan next season! Things are getting desperate, so you know it’s going to be good.

Love Ava’s look in the car as she got caught… damn that was a twist!

As for overall favorite moment this season I just have to give another shout out to Bob getting tortured by “Yolo” and finally coming up on top as an unexpected badass!! LOOOOOVE how long they spent on that scene, and the ensuing moment with Raylan and Bob in the school as Raylan talks about what Bob did to Yolo made it even more spectacularly cool.

I just watched it, and I have to say this is the first time I’m actually sad that a show won’t come back next week, to the point that I feel Mad Men won’t be enough. Maybe I’m just reacting, but what an amazing finale. When you think you have the plot all figured out, Raylan and Winona kill everybody. At one point I thought maybe Raylan would help Boyd with the body in exchange of Nicky’s murder, but then there’s this conversation and you realize Raylan would never give Boyd the pleasure of seeing him sink to “his level”.

And what really amazes me, about the Winona-Raylan shooting, is, as awesome as it was, but as impossible as it might have sounded, you really believe someone like Winona can do this. Because her actressing totally delivers the idea that a pregnant woman can murder some asshole in the face for even threatening her baby, and you already know Winona is not that lawful a person…
Loved the walking away from the thugs volleyin’ the shit out that limo. Loved Duffy’s gulp and the “I’ll be in touch” (WHEN DOES IT COME BACK?!) Loved that finale. Loved that season. Love that show.

VJ…..Kudos on an amazing season. Please don’t tell me what I think is being implied in the last scene. I mean, Raylan repairing the wall? Does it mean he’s gonna stay there in Harlan? The song playing in the background? Is it some form of foreshadowing? He’ll never get out of Harlan alive??? Say it ain’t so VJ !!! Wait a minute…..guess I just figured it out on my own- fixing the wall was only a symbolic act ( cleaning Arlo’s mess, erasing the memory of what he did and the secrets he kept) Sorry VJ…nevermind. I guess I’m just hankering for a happy ending with Mom and Dad living out a peaceful life, raising little Rayleen without the bullets flying close to their heads.

I love this show so damn much. Thanks for all the great work you, the other writers, and actors do. You never fail to entertain me week in and week out. Now, just figure out a way to have the show on every week of the year.

Overall, this may have been my favorite season. The writers teased us all season. We all know the common TV tropes that Justidied introduced (like the baby in danger from last night), but then they subvert the trope and spit us out the other end with something we didn’t see coming. And the result was always better than we could have hoped for.

In the words of DaHoppa Papa, holy MACKREL! What a finale. Couple things…

1. The twist with Raylan tipping off Sammy was amazeballs. I was slackjawed as I watched it unfold. Just another perfect example of how exquisitely awesome this show it. I’m going on record saying this was one of the best left field curveballs of the series. The only thing that would have been even nuttier…
2. When the cops were pulling Delroy out of the mine shaft I told my brother what if that ain’t Delroy? What if Boyd, in his omnipotent criminality, had already switched Delroy’s body out at some point in the past because he knew that Delroy’s body would always be their Achilles. Then when Boyd told Ava, “They *think* they have Delroy’s body…” oh man, I got a raging marshal clue.

Of course, Raylan would do that! That’s what makes this show so amazing. They write themselves into the corner with Art telling Raylan don’t come back if goes after Nick. Then Raylan has to threaten Nicky about backing off his family and Nicky can’t because he loses his guys. They stay absolutely true to the characters but Raylan is still clever enough and ballsy enough to call Tonin and tip him off.